At last, a chance to leap into choreographer's shoes

Timothy Harbour "I've always had that urge to leap in where
there's been a void."Photo: Melanie Dove

By Sunanda CreaghNovember 1, 2005

After 11 years dancing for the Australian Ballet, Timothy
Harbour decided he had had enough of being on the receiving end of
the choreographers' orders.

"I've always been the kind of dancer that other choreographers
have used to create new work," he said. But Harbour, 30, has never
been shy to offer his two cents' worth.

"You run through a sequence and you get to a point where there's
a pause in the choreographic flow. If the choreographer can't think
of what comes next I've always thought, 'We could do this or
do that', I've always had that urge to leap in where there's been a
void and put my own touch on it."

But how does that make the choreographer feel? Harbour will soon
find out: he is among five dancers who will take part in this
year's Bodytorque, the Australian Ballet's program for emerging
choreographers.

"It feels like a relief to run the show and do it my way," he
said. "But in the end, I'm not the one who is going to have to
perform [my work] so the dancer has to have an input I'll
try not to be too dictatorial."

Bodytorque, in its second year, is aimed at bringing fresh
choreographers through the ranks and generating new work. Harbour
was selected with Timothy Farrar and Kristy Biggs, also of the
Australian Ballet, and Paul Boyd and Lucas Jervies, who are with
other companies.

This year's Bodytorque program explores the possibilities of the
pas de deux. For his work, Sunken Waltz, Harbour drew
inspiration from Wong Kar Wai's 1999 film In the Mood for
Love, which he says focused less on narrative and more on
atmosphere.

"It wasn't so much about the story, but about this powerful,
intoxicating, lush mood," he said.

It inspired him to create a work that, like the film, had "this
latent sexuality without ever showing anything or slapping it down
in front of your eyes".

His 10-minute work is set to a Leonard Cohen song, Dance Me
to the End of Love.

"There's a line in the song: 'Show me all your beauty when the
witnesses are gone'," Harbour said, explaining that he wanted to
create a work that echoed that intimacy - to demonstrate the
"little things that exist between two people in a relationship that
other people don't know about".

The Australian Ballet's artistic director, David McAllister,
said the duet theme was a natural choice. "The pas de deux has
always been the lynchpin of big ballets, and there's nothing like
that scene of the girl hurling herself toward the man," he
said.

"There might have been pairs of boys or pairs of girls but [all
five choreographers] went very traditional in the end."

The gender pairing may be traditional, but the idea of
Bodytorque is to create anything but, McAllister said.

"Really, in the last 50 years the line between classical ballet
and contemporary dance has really blurred There's a bastion
of people out there who feel it's wrong to be messing around with
what ballet is. But I think if we don't we're just going to become
irrelevant and musty and old fashioned.

"I think this program is one of the most important things we do
every year for the future of the company."

Bodytorque Two opens on Thursday at Sydney Theatre, Walsh
Bay. Until November 5.